Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Steve Green singing … People Need the Lord … singing of how we need to be “fishers of men” in a world where so many need Jesus’ saving grace.
Highlight Verse[s]: Psalm 92:14 [NKJV] …
14 They (righteous believers) shall bear fruit in old age; … they shall be fresh and flourishing. … Age shall not hold back the effectiveness of the righteous.
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Highlight Context: Psalm 92:12-15 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… The Psalmist praises the Lord on the Sabbath … as long as he shall live to serve Him. ===========
Reference Passage #1 … Isaiah 40:31 [NKJV] …
31 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; … they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
… The faithful shall be strengthened … even in old age.
Reference Passage #2 … Acts 1:8 [NKJV] …
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
… Jesus charges us to be His witnesses to a lost world, no matter how old we get.
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, David Roper, reported an interesting 2nd Century piece, … written about fishing lures, which triggered a word picture for Roper of older Christians. He wrote: Several years ago I stumbled across a bit of fishing lore in a second-century ad work by the Greek writer Aelian. “Between Boroca and Thessalonica runs a river called the Astracus, and in it there are fish with spotted skins [trout].” He then describes a “snare for the fish, by which they get the better of them. They fastened crimson red wool round a hook and attached two feathers. Then they would throw their snare, and the fish, attracted by the color, comes up, thinking to get a mouthful” (On the Nature of Animals).
Fishermen still use this lure today [see attached photo]. It is called the Red Hackle. First used over 2,200 years ago, it remains a snare for trout by which we “get the better of them.”
And you may be thinking, “Bill, … how, pray tell, does this fit in with a devotional blog?” But it does: … because the ODB author was stricken by the fact that a VERY OLD fishing technique was still being used effectively today to catch trout. And that’s the way we should look at the aging process for us as Christians.
Unfortunately, the world would like for us older Christians (and I’m certainly one of those) to think that getting older equals becoming less effective or powerful as witnesses for Christ. Hey folks!! I’m much more effective now in my 70s than I was in my 30s as a “fisher of men,” which is what Jesus wants me to become … just as he did His original disciples. In fact just think how Peter, Andrew, James, and John became WAY MORE effective as fishing lures for Jesus later in their lives than they were when Jesus first called them to become “fishers of men.”
So, as we get older, fellow fishermen, let’s wrap ourselves in the lure of Christlikeness and cast ourselves on the waters of life and do some fishing for souls. Because as Steve Green sings in the linked song, “People Need the Lord!”
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Lord, help me to cast myself as a witnessing lure for Your glory. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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